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EXHIBIT 135

Udanoceratops

Udanoceratops tschizhovi

Udanoceratops was a large beaked ceratopsian with a strikingly deep lower jaw and an incompletely known body. [1]

Evidence profile

TWO WAYS TO PICTURE THE PAST

Compare the evidence with the familiar movie image. The illustrations are not to a shared scale.

01 / SKELETAL RECONSTRUCTION

A framework from the fossils

Skeletal reconstruction of Udanoceratops tschizhovi based on holotype PIN3907/11.

U. tschizhovi reconstruction based on PIN3907/11, distinguishing preserved skull and vertebral material from restored portions. Much of the body is comparative; this is not a measured complete individual. Living colors and soft tissues are unknown. [2]

Udanoceratops Skeleton Reconstruction.png · PaleoNeolitic. CC BY 4.0. Proportionally resized Commons preview and converted to WebP; no anatomy edits.

Skeletal mounts and drawings may restore missing parts; the caption identifies the displayed material.

02 / MOVIE-STYLE INTERPRETATION

A cinematic imagination

Illustrative reconstruction of Udanoceratops; colors, soft tissues and restored details remain interpretive.

Original cinematic interpretation of Udanoceratops tschizhovi. Colors, soft tissues, scenery and missing anatomy are reconstructed artistic choices; this is not a directly observed individual or behavior. The skull anchors this view; contested or incomplete postcranial referrals do not establish an exact whole-body posture. Lighting, coloration and scenery are artistic choices. This image does not document a fossil locality or behavior.

Original artwork · artistic interpretation.

Scientific view: source-informed reconstruction, credited paleoart or specimen-based imagery. Movie-style view: Original artistic interpretation. Reconstructions involve uncertainty.

PERIODLate Cretaceous[1]
DIETHerbivoreEvidence and uncertainty in the dossier
TOTAL LENGTHSee the dossierEstimate scope matters
FOSSILS FOUNDMongolia[1]
CompareRead the dossierView the sources

MEET THE ANIMAL

Meet Udanoceratops

Udanoceratops was a plant-eating dinosaur from Late Cretaceous Mongolia. It belonged to the ceratopsians, the group that includes beaked dinosaurs with skull frills. Its most recognizable feature was a remarkably deep lower jaw. The surviving skull tells us more about its appearance than the incomplete bones of its body do. [D1]

That jaw curved strongly downward, beneath straight rows of teeth. The skull also had a large opening for the nostril and lacked teeth in the frontmost upper-jaw bones. These details help researchers recognize Udanoceratops. A drawing of its complete head still needs to restore missing parts, especially the outline of the frill. [D2]

Comparisons of limb bones suggest an animal that supported its weight on four legs. This four-legged stance is called quadrupedality. However, some bones assigned to Udanoceratops have an uncertain identity, so a precise walking style remains a reconstruction. Researchers must first check which bones belong to the dinosaur before using them to explain how its whole body worked. [D4]

PREHISTORIC ANIMAL DOSSIER

A life in profile.

The animal, the evidence, and the questions still open.

Its skull is better understood than its whole skeleton. Formation correlations and referred limb material leave aspects of habitat and movement uncertain. [D5] [D6]

Profile scope: U. tschizhovi, principally holotype PIN3907/11; the disputed juvenile referral PIN4046/11 is kept separate. [D6]

Time
Late Cretaceous
Fossil locations in this exhibit
Mongolia
How to read the evidence

Source supported identifies a description documented by the cited source. Inferred marks a reconstruction or functional estimate. Debated marks competing interpretations. Not established means the sources reviewed for this dossier do not support a firm conclusion; it does not mean a behavior never occurred.

A size reference is an estimate, not a population range. Nesting evidence does not by itself establish courtship, mate choice, or lifelong pairing.

Length

Inferred

About 3.91 m; reconstructed PIN3907/11

The 2008 table labels the type adult/mature and gives reconstructed total length. Incomplete material and unverified histological maturity prevent treating this as a measured adult range. [D3]

Body mass

Not established

Not established here

Reviewed anatomical and size studies do not provide a sufficiently documented specimen-specific mass with a reproducible method. Popular rounded estimates are not adopted. [D3]

Diet

Source supported

Plant eater

The museum classifies it as herbivorous. Its powerful beak-and-jaw anatomy does not identify preferred plants or a demonstrated seasonal diet. [D1]

Habitat

Inferred

Late Cretaceous continental Mongolia

The type comes from Üüden Sair Bed2. Competing Djadokhta/Nemegt locality correlations and disputed co-occurrences prevent a confident narrow age or particular habitat assignment. [D5]

Locomotion

Inferred

Quadrupedal interpretation, with referral limits

Comparative forelimb anatomy favors supporting the body on four limbs. Some limb material attributed to Udanoceratops has uncertain identity, so detailed gait remains provisional. [D4] [D6]

Distinctive anatomy

Source supported

Deep arched jaw and enlarged nostril opening

The skull has straight tooth rows, no premaxillary teeth and a very deep, curved lower jaw. Much of the complete frill and body must be restored. [D2] [D1]

Reproduction & life together

Reproduction and growth

Not established

Not established here

Adult and inferred-sex labels in the 2008 functional study do not establish reproductive maturity, confirmed sex, nesting or parenting. [D3]

Courtship and mating

Not established

Not established here

No reviewed evidence demonstrates sex-specific ornamentation or mating rituals. A proposed sex assignment is not a demonstrated courtship pattern. [D3]

Social behavior

Not established

Not established here

A purported association with other dinosaur taxa is geologically disputed and does not identify a Udanoceratops herd or family group. [D5]

Dossier research & sources

Sources and inspection notes for the claims in this profile.

  1. UdanoceratopsNatural History Museum, London · Accessed 2026-10-02Museum page inspected: Late Cretaceous Mongolia, herbivory, partial skull/postcranium, deep jaw and little frill. No body length or mass supplied. · Inspected: page
  2. The fossil record, systematics and evolution of pachycephalosaurs and ceratopsians from AsiaCambridge University Press; Sereno (2000), chapter25 in The Age of Dinosaurs in Russia and Mongolia, pp480-516 · Accessed 2026-10-02Original Udanoceratops anatomical excerpt inspected in indexed primary text: enlarged naris, deep arched jaw, straight tooth rows and missing premaxillary teeth. Scanned institutional PDF lacked extractable text. · Inspected: excerpt
  3. Adaptive Features of Protoceratopoids (Ornithischia: Neoceratopsia)Paleontological Journal; Tereschenko (2008) · Accessed 2026-10-02Original author-uploaded full text and Table1 inspected: PIN3907/11 reconstructed total3910mm labeled adult mature. Inferred sex and aquatic/gait hypotheses not treated as proven; questionable juvenile PIN4046/11 kept separate. · Inspected: page
  4. Appendicular skeleton of Protoceratops andrewsi: comparative morphology, ontogenetic changes, and implications for non-ceratopsid ceratopsian locomotionPeerJ; Słowiak, Tereshchenko and Fostowicz-Frelik (2019) · Accessed 2026-10-02Original full comparative discussion inspected via EuropePMC XML. Udanoceratops forelimb/pes interpretations favor quadrupedality; some postcranial referral disputed. · Inspected: page
  5. New protoceratopsid specimens improve the age correlation of the Upper Cretaceous Gobi Desert strataActa Palaeontologica Polonica; Czepiński (2020) · Accessed 2026-10-02Original author-uploaded full text inspected through ResearchGate: Udanoceratops type from Üüden Sair Bed2, contested locality/formation correlations and purported co-occurrences. No settled numerical species range. · Inspected: page
  6. A new leptoceratopsid dinosaur from Maastrichtian-aged deposits of the Sustut Basin, northern British Columbia, CanadaPeerJ; Arbour and Evans (2019) · Accessed 2026-10-02Original full comparative discussion inspected via EuropePMC XML: rationale lacking for juvenile PIN4046/11 referral to Udanoceratops rather than Protoceratops; limits postcranial/life-stage pooling. · Inspected: page

THE STORY IN THE FOSSILS

Meet Udanoceratops

The deep curved lower jaw gives Udanoceratops a distinctive profile among small-frilled ceratopsians. Its enlarged nostril opening and straight tooth rows also separate its skull from that of Leptoceratops. [2]

A large reconstructed adult and a much smaller referred skeleton should not automatically become a species size range. The smaller specimen lacks a secure referral rationale, making taxonomic scope central to the life profile. [6] [3]

A note on scale and time

The dossier identifies the scope of each reference estimate. A mount, an individual fossil and a species-wide adult range are different measurements. Comparison metrics remain unavailable where adult scope has not been established. Unknown does not mean zero.

Sources & editorial notes

Sources support the stated claims and scopes. Refer to the evidence notes for uncertainty.

  1. UdanoceratopsNatural History Museum, London · Accessed 2026-10-02Museum page inspected: Late Cretaceous Mongolia, herbivory, partial skull/postcranium, deep jaw and little frill. No body length or mass supplied. · Inspected: page
  2. The fossil record, systematics and evolution of pachycephalosaurs and ceratopsians from AsiaCambridge University Press; Sereno (2000), chapter25 in The Age of Dinosaurs in Russia and Mongolia, pp480-516 · Accessed 2026-10-02Original Udanoceratops anatomical excerpt inspected in indexed primary text: enlarged naris, deep arched jaw, straight tooth rows and missing premaxillary teeth. Scanned institutional PDF lacked extractable text. · Inspected: excerpt
  3. Adaptive Features of Protoceratopoids (Ornithischia: Neoceratopsia)Paleontological Journal; Tereschenko (2008) · Accessed 2026-10-02Original author-uploaded full text and Table1 inspected: PIN3907/11 reconstructed total3910mm labeled adult mature. Inferred sex and aquatic/gait hypotheses not treated as proven; questionable juvenile PIN4046/11 kept separate. · Inspected: page
  4. Appendicular skeleton of Protoceratops andrewsi: comparative morphology, ontogenetic changes, and implications for non-ceratopsid ceratopsian locomotionPeerJ; Słowiak, Tereshchenko and Fostowicz-Frelik (2019) · Accessed 2026-10-02Original full comparative discussion inspected via EuropePMC XML. Udanoceratops forelimb/pes interpretations favor quadrupedality; some postcranial referral disputed. · Inspected: page
  5. New protoceratopsid specimens improve the age correlation of the Upper Cretaceous Gobi Desert strataActa Palaeontologica Polonica; Czepiński (2020) · Accessed 2026-10-02Original author-uploaded full text inspected through ResearchGate: Udanoceratops type from Üüden Sair Bed2, contested locality/formation correlations and purported co-occurrences. No settled numerical species range. · Inspected: page
  6. A new leptoceratopsid dinosaur from Maastrichtian-aged deposits of the Sustut Basin, northern British Columbia, CanadaPeerJ; Arbour and Evans (2019) · Accessed 2026-10-02Original full comparative discussion inspected via EuropePMC XML: rationale lacking for juvenile PIN4046/11 referral to Udanoceratops rather than Protoceratops; limits postcranial/life-stage pooling. · Inspected: page

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